Firstly, the toys are really awesome. They look and feel great. I was sceptical of their price point at first, but the figure is worth it. But it doesn't seem like much data is saved on them. They have character levels (which don't do anything), but there are no individual items or skill sets, so the toys feel like they're keys you're obliged to use to unlock enjoyment. You soon find thatFirstly, the toys are really awesome. They look and feel great. I was sceptical of their price point at first, but the figure is worth it. But it doesn't seem like much data is saved on them. They have character levels (which don't do anything), but there are no individual items or skill sets, so the toys feel like they're keys you're obliged to use to unlock enjoyment. You soon find that putting your own Jack Sparrow on the portal is identical to putting ANY Jack Sparrow on the portal, and then some of that fun and wonder of your toy coming to life slips away.
Annoyingly the special unique powers that characters would normally get from levelling up are in the form of physical disks. For those not in the know, power disks are small disks that unlock power-ups or items when placed on the portal. That you have to buy separately. In blind packs of two. For $8 a pop.
The toys aren't so much 'in the game' as they are a not-particularly-subtitle paywall, blocking you from doing what you want to do in the game… which brings me to… The Toy Box.
There are hundreds of items that you can use, but you only get a handful to start out with. You have to unlock more by playing the play sets, doing challenges or levelling up. Except instead of items you get 'spins' which you spend these at a slot-machine that grants you a random piece to build with. You can control the randomness to some extent, but your dreams of building a castle may well be dashed as the curser passes over the bit you want and gives you a sidewalk instead.
Annoyingly, unlike Little Big Planet you can't unlock all the pieces just by playing around and using spins. Many of the best and most interesting pieces are unlocked by playing Play Sets, so if you're not planning on getting them all some of the best items will be forever denied to you.
And even if you DO have all the Play Sets, many of the most significant items are hidden inside a vault requires every figure related to that play set before it will open, which furthers that nagging feeling that the toys are just keys.
Other items require a specific physical 'power disk' (in blind-buy packs again). So if you want to make a level themed around Wreak-it-Ralph or Nemo, you’ll need to buy blind packs of disks until you can find the little disks that unlock those items in the toy box. Oh, and if you like TRON, tough luck those disks were random draws in rare EB Exclusive packs.
Building is fun, but it's just so aggravating how many pay walls you're constantly bumping into… and even the stuff that isn't pay-walled is handed out so inconstantly.
On to Play Sets, where you’ll find that only characters from the featured franchise can play, so you can't have the Lone Ranger running about Monster University you’ll need to buy more figures.
Design wise thecontrols are quite complicated using all four face buttons, both sticks, both triggers, the right-bumper and the directional pad. When you factor in jumping and manual camera control, which is too much for younger kids.
While more complicated navigation will lock out younger players, older players will still be boarded to death by a game that offers exactly zero challenge. You have a health bar, but it's meaningless, as the only penalty for death is a 2 second animation. You don't have any downside at all.
The biggest crime of all is that the play sets just feel soulless. They don't have the same vibe as the source material; they feel slapped together for the sake of having a 'single player experience'. As gamers we all know that feeling it's the feeling you get when you play a rushed movie tie-in… the sort you stop half way through, because you just can't be arsed finishing it.
Bottom line, Infinity might be a fun construction set. Perhaps. I can't tell for sure, as it's hidden under layers of physical DLC, the necessary to play through dreadful single player campaigns and a unlock system that doesn't give you the items you need.
I can't stress enough how awful the DLC/toy-unlock system for this game is. You need every toy if you want to experience the whole game.
I have a real problem with rating Infinity, because what are you actually rating?
Do I score the Disney Infinity experience I am personally having (after spending roughly $180usd) with several character packs and an additional play set?
Or are you rating the experience that a family will have with just the core pack no way to co-op the campaign content and with no way to access many of the key building blocks in Play Sets? Because that family will also have less chances to earn 'spins', thus locking them out of many of the key 'normal' pieces too.
I feel like this is a product that will offer a lot of people a lot of fun… but you can't score it based on that, because not everyone will have access to that same experience after buying the game.… Expand
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